Shadows of Truth
by IDidn'tJustSignUpForThis
Summary: AU- the world is rebooted, but Tim? Tim remembers. Tim remembers everything. This knowledge is not a blessing, it is only pain. Tim vows to get HIS world back. To do that, everyone has to remember... why not start with Kon? Tim/Kon one shot.


I approach my car, walking fast. I can hear him behind me, feet dragging at a sure steady pace across the pavement, making the noise so that he knows I can hear. I take deep breaths, in and out, in and out, _stay calm_. _You have prepared yourself for this before. You have thought it through. You are ready._

_Only you're not. You have no idea how he will respond. You have no idea what is about to happen, only in theory._

_Theory is not good enough. You are not ready._

_But you have to be, because he is there. Behind you._

That is when I feel his hand on my shoulder, I do not flinch. I do not turn around.

"Why have you been following me?" His voice is an accusation, low and steady, full of questions.

"Because I know." I say, trying to mimic the steadiness of his tone, trying not to give myself away.

"Who are you? You know nothing. There's nothing to know." It is well concealed, hidden, barely noticeable, but it is there. His voice reeks of hidden panic. It calms my nerves. I tell myself again, _you are ready._

"There's everything to know, and I know all of it." I am glad for the darkness the car lot provides. My nerves always settle in the darkness. In the darkness, I feel at home.

The man behind me is still silent. His silence is what gives him away. It means I am right, and he knows what that means.

But not enough. Never enough. He couldn't know. After all, he doesn't know me. Not who I am.

In the darkness, in the night, I am a stranger. I am a stranger here.

I am a stranger to this man but he is not a stranger to me.

He doesn't know who I really am. But I know who he is.

"Who are you?" His voice is almost a whisper.

The question almost makes me smile, a silent smirk in the dark of night. The smirk of irony that no one but the dark can see.

"You know me." I speak softly, very matter of fact. "You don't know the half of it… but you know me." My brow creases as the barricades leak cracks, and the feelings I promised to push away begin to come, begin to chase me. I close my eyes to push them away, before they drown me.

One misplaced feeling and all my work goes to waste.

"But why are you following me?"His voice rises with anger, frustration. It makes me smile to myself, still facing away from the boy without any of the answers, so as not to give myself away. He can not figure it out, and it's bothering him. This isn't a game we are unfamiliar with.

In another world, anyways.

"Because…. It's what I do best."I say, my smile playing in my voice now, an inside joke, one I'm sure he doesn't know… remember.

He is silent again, as the confusion increases. I feel almost bad, I know it isn't fair. I know how much this would hurt him, how it would make him feel. He doesn't like it when I play games. I sigh and at last turn towards him.

It is to dark to see my face, not that he would recognize it. Not _me_.

In the dark all I can see is his eyes, his bright blue eyes, so familiar to me. He does not recognize mine though, I realize with a pang of pain. All of this familiarity means nothing to him.

Here he is a stranger, and so am I.

It is in that moment that I realize I do not know what I am doing; I don't really have a plan. I don't know how to do this. All I know is that it hurts.

I stare at him, across from me, and I remember how familiar this is to me. How many times I have stood like this before. But this is different, this is wrong.

He does not know me.

There was a time when he did. Even like this… even the way no one was supposed to know me.

But that world is gone now. And this is all that there is.

Quite unfamiliarity.

I don't know how to continue from here. I don't know what to do next.

For all the times I thought this through, did I ever truly know? Did I even plan on how to remind him, all of them? How to make him know me?

Everything is different here.

And even the one thing I thought that maybe… I could change. Get back. Recover.

I do not know how to do this now, not in this moment.

I have lost him, again. Only it's so much worse; it is not _him _I have lost but _us_.

_He _is still here, but that means nothing, not here.

It means nothing if he doesn't know me.

He makes a sound then, a sound that means 'I don't know what to say, but I need your attention. You haven't answered my questions.' and I realize that I'm doing it again, lost in my thoughts.

In my mind I remember the days I spent like this, stood next to him, lost in my thoughts, with a playful punch and a laugh and a reminder not to over think things.

Not to over think things. I almost laugh. As if that is possible, here.

I can't remember what I had said last. I can't remember where we were. It's all too difficult, everything is wrong. How can I remember when remembering is my problem?

He is waiting for me to speak, and I do not know what to say, so I say the only thing I know how to. I've said it enough times before, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" He asks, confused, still with that frustration lining every word. "For stalking me? What's going on!?"

"I… I don't know…" _I don't know what to say_.

What am I supposed to?

You're my best friend. And you can not remember.

But you are so much more… and I never even got a chance to say it.

"It's confusing." I decide at least, cursing myself as my voice cracks.

"You're telling me."

I smile at him in the dark, trying with all my might to block out the feelings. It's not the feelings that have me here; it's more important then that.

My feelings are compromising everything.

"I'm sorry." I apologize again and I disappear.

I slip away, into the night, as I am so used to, to try again another time.

I was not ready. I can not do this.

I don't know how to.

But I will have to. I will have to remind them.

And I will… another time.

Author notes:

This was actually written for an English assignment on a prompt.

("I feel so bad for the girl in this!"

... I hate people.)

Because of this some of the way this is set up is really odd...

I'm assuming he's stalking Kon as Tim Drake, not as Robin. And Conner has no idea who Tim Drake is.

I'm not sure when or how this would even happen because of HOW exactly it started out with Kon once they rebooted, but I don't really care, I'm kind of proud of this one.

Just ignore the details that make no sense.

Also, who wouldn't he recognize Tim's voice?

I don't know, who don't people recognize Clark with his glasses?

Comic book logic. It's my favourite way around plot holes ever invented.


End file.
